Director

Release Date(s)

Studio(s)

Various (Umbrella Entertainment)

Film/Program Grade: A-

Video Grade: B+

Audio Grade: B

Extras Grade: B-

Review

[Editor’s Note: This is an Australian REGION FREE Blu-ray release]

A popular trend among various home video labels nowadays is to compile a collection of movie trailers and present them on disc as the main feature rather than as an extra. Notable favorites include both the 42nd Street Forever and Trailer Trauma series. Umbrella Entertainment has taken a stab at this extremely niche market with previously with two Drive-In Delirium releases: ‘60s and ‘70s Savagery and Maximum ‘80s Overdrive, but today, we’re taking a look at their newest collection, The New Batch. With a total of 175 trailers, it’s certainly a monumental set of vintage marketing materials to cull through, but if you enjoy watching them, this collection is right up your alley.

Split into two parts with the option of watching everything all at once, there is a pre-show, intermission, and post-show, all of which contain vintage commercials and drive-in advertisements. In Part 1: The Quickening, which contains 82 trailers (all chapter divided), there’s The Creeping Unknown (aka The Quatermass Experiment), The Angry Red Planet, The Green Slime, Chosen Survivors, Meteor, The Dark (aka The Mutilator), Without Warning (aka It Came Without Warning), Xtro, Altered States, Silent Rage, 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Night of the Comet, The Quiet Earth, Terrorvision, The Hidden, The Curse, Our Man Flint, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, Wizards, They Call Me Mister Tibbs!, The Stone Killer, The Laughing Policeman, Freebie and the Bean, Brannigan, Night Moves, 10 to Midnight, Tightrope, Gorky Park, Dead Heat, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Convoy, Death Machines, Game of Death (1978 version), Swordkill (aka Ghost Warrior), Exterminator 2, Death Wish 3, Striking Back (aka The New Kids), Rolling Vengeance, The Killing of America, Savage Attraction, Fair Game, Hellhole, The Naked Cage, The Cassandra Crossing, The Domino Principle, Eye of the Needle, Caboblanco, Death Hunt, Fragment of Fear, Eyes of Laura Mars, Last Embrace, Still of the Night, Death Valley, Highpoint, The Naked Face, Dead Ringers, Escape to Athena, Attack Force Z, Missing in Action, Mata Hari, Death Rides a Horse, Adiós, Sabata, Valdez is Coming, The Hunting Party, Breakheart Pass, From Noon Till Three, Linda and Abilene, Last Tango in Paris, Caligula, They’re Playing with Fire, Every Home Should Have One, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, High Anxiety, The Kentucky Fried Movie, The Nude Bomb, History of the World: Part I, The Man with Two Brains, Cannonball Run II, Amazon Women on the Moon, and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.

In Part 2: The Spawning, which contains 93 trailers (all chapter divided), there’s Terror in the Aisles, Blood Mania, What’s the Matter with Helen?, Point of Terror, Don’t Look in the Basement, Don’t Go in the House, Silent Scream, Demented, The Prowler, Happy Birthday to Me, The Funhouse, Night School (aka Terror Eyes), The Slumber Party Massacre, Alone in the Dark, The Slayer, Double Exposure, The House on Sorority Row, The Mutilator (aka Fall Break), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Slaughter High, April Fool’s Day, Destroyer, Ghost Story, The Survivor, The Entity, The House Where Evil Dwells, Poltergeist, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Poltergeist III, Amityville II: The Possession, Amityville 3-D, House, The Mephisto Waltz, The Exorcist, Exorcist II: The Heretic, The Sentinel, The Hearse, Omen III: The Final Conflict (aka The Final Conflict), The Power, Prince of Darkness, Angel Heart, The Seventh Seal, Warlock, Phantasm, Sole Survivor, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Cathy’s Curse, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Pet Sematary, The Crimson Cult (aka Curse of the Crimson Altar), Death Line (aka Raw Meat), The Comeback (aka The Day the Screaming Stops), House of the Long Shadows, The Doctor and the Devils, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Lisa and the Devil (aka The House of Exorcism), Spasmo, Deep Red (aka The Hatchet Murders), City of the Living Dead (aka The Gates of Hell), Manhattan Baby (aka Eye of the Evil Dead), Phenomena (aka Creepers), The Shiver of the Vampires, Count Dracula’s Great Love (aka Cemetery Girls), The Night of the Sorcerers (aka The Night of the Witches), The Night Visitor, Possession, A*P*E (aka Ape), Orca, The White Buffalo, Deadly Eyes, Razorback, Dark Age, Jaws: The Revenge, The Bat People (aka It Lives by Night), Humanoids from the Deep, Wolfen, An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf, Cat People (1982), The Fly (1986), Near Dark, The Being, C.H.U.D., Hobgoblins, Pumpkinhead, Bloodsucking Freaks (aka The Incredible Torture Show), Basket Case, Brain Damage, and The Video Dead. At the end is a trailer for the Drive-In Delirium releases ’60s and ’70s Savagery and Maximum ’80s Overdrive as well.

The video and audio quality is much better than what you might expect. While some of the drive-in advertisements are occasionally low grade, all of the trailers have been HD-sourced. They’re not squeaky-clean as they do still contain instances of scratches, speckling, and other types of film damage, but they’re quite presentable and stable throughout. The sole audio option for everything is English 2.0 DTS-HD with no subtitle options. Each trailer’s soundtrack is mostly clean and clear with next to no real interference, other than occasional distortion and light crackle, which comes hand in hand with the quality of the trailers themselves.

Only one extra has been included (other than the reversible inner sleeve with slightly alternate artwork and a list of all of the trailers), which is VHS Delirium, a collection of Australian VHS-sourced previews. There are 79 in all (making for a grand total of 254), including Christiane F., Live a Little, Steal a Lot, Sisters, Starflight One (aka Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land), Fake-Out (aka Nevada Heat), Full Moon High, Q: The Winged Serpent, High Road to China, They Call Me Bruce?, Fritz the Cat, Hostage (aka Savage Attraction), The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday, Yellowbeard, Breathless, Jaguar Lives!, Survive!, The Lonely Lady, Split Image (aka Captured), Yor, the Hunter from the Future, Zulu Dawn, Kill and Kill Again, The Last Hunter, Flesh for Frankenstein/Blood for Dracula, The House by the Cemetery, Get Crazy, Threshold, Brainwaves, Caligula, Never Say Never Again, 21 Hours at Munich, Count Yorga, Vampire, Chrome and Hot Leather, High Ballin’ (aka Death Toll), Stone Cold Dead, The Cold Room, An American Werewolf in London, Alligator, Empire of the Ants, The Return (1980), Young Doctors in Love, Melvin: Son of Alvin, Scanners, The Philadelphia Experiment, Cujo, Defiance, The Fifth Floor, Jennifer, Secrets of the Phantom Caverns (aka What Waits Below), Kill Squad, Inseminoid (aka Horror Planet), Savage Islands (aka Nate and Hayes), Battletruck (aka Warlords of the 21st Century), Cannonball (aka Carquake), Cannonball Run II, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Rutles, Cloud Dancer, Hysterical, Roadhouse 66, 1984, Lassiter, Losin’ It, The Key (aka La chiave), Insatiable, Bedside Headmaster, Julia (aka Summer Girl), When a Stranger Calls, Tilt, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, Condorman, Scarred, Seven (1979), Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac, Angel, Dominique (aka Dominique is Dead), The Day After, Exterminators of the Year 3000, and Cross Country. Of all of the trailer collections in this set, I found this one to be the most enlightening and entertaining due to the obscurity of some of the titles.

There’s not much more I can do to recommend this set. It certainly gives you a peek at a lot of different films that you might not otherwise have been aware of, and thanks to Drive-In Delirium, you’re likely to queue up your various streaming devices and Blu-ray and DVD wishlists with new titles to check out. It’s another great collection.

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